Brush and comb cleaning device



Dec. 28, 1965 5. WINTER ETAL BRUSH AND COMB CLEANING DEVICE Filed Oct.19, 1962 II II IIHO f INVENTORS HUBERT ALDER AND BY STANLEY WINTER, WM,9mm and iad'u United States Patent f 3 225 377 BRUSH AND Cori n;CLlii.Al iihI-G DEVICE Stanley Winter, 241 Ciarir Road, Cincinnati 15,Ghio, and Hubert Alder, 8007 Woodbine Ave, Cincinnati 16,

()hio Filed Oct. 19, 1962, Ser. No. 231,748 4 Claims. c1. 1s 311 Theinvention relates to a device for cleaning hair brushes and combs. Whilethe device of the present invention is suitable for cleaning many typesof brushes, combs and the like, for purposes of an exemplary showing itwill be described with respect to the cleaning of hair brushes.

Professional hair dressing establishments have always been faced withthe problem of removing hair and other foreign material from the brushesused each day. The usual method of cleaning these brushes is to run astiff comb through them repeatedly by hand until the hair and foreignmaterial has been removed. The brushes are then placed in a sterilizingcabinet. The brushes must be sufficiently clean to meet the requirementsof state and Federal health officials. This method of cleaning, whilethorough, is time consuming and expensive since the combs used forcleaning purposes must be frequently replaced. In a small businesshaving only one or two beauty operators, the usual procedure is for theoperator to remain after hours to clean the brushes used that day. Inlarger businesses having a staff of beauty operators, it is oftennecessary to hire a person or persons full time in order to clean thebrushes being used.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a devicewhich will substantially reduce the time and effort required to clean alarge number of hair brushes.

It is an object of the invention to provide such a device which willcause little or no wear on the brushes themselves, and yet will cleanthem sufiiciently to meet health requirements.

It is an object of the present invention to provide such a device whichis inexpensive to manufacture and easy to maintain.

It is an object of the invention to provide a hair brush cleaner whichwill substantially eliminate static electricity which so often rendershair brush cleaning extremely difiicult.

It is an object of the invention to provide such a cleaning device whichwill collect hair and foreign material for easy disposal.

These and other objects of the invention which will be set forthhereinafter or will be apparent to one skilled in the art upon readingthese specifications, are accomplished by that structure and arrangementof parts of which an exemplary embodiment will now be described.Reference is made to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the device of the present inventionshowing the lid in a partially open position.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the device with the lid or cover member inraised position.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the device taken along the section line3-3 of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, the cleaning device of the present inventionis housed in a casing generally indicated at 1. This casing comprisesside walls 2 and 3, a bottom 4, and a front plate 5. The casing 1 has afalse bottom or platform 6, parallel to and in spaced relationship withthe bottom 4. It will be noted that the front plate 5 extends downwardlyto the platform 6. A drawer, generally indicated at 7, is slidablymounted in that space defined by the bottom 4, platform 6 and sidemembers 2 and 3. The drawer 7 comprises a front wall 3, a bottom 9, andside walls one of which is shown at 10. The rear wall 11 of the draweris made of foraminous material such as 3,225,377 Patented Dec. 28, 1965wire screening or the like. The drawer may be withdrawn from the frontof the casing 1 by means of the drawer pull 12.

The main chamber of the casing, generally indicated at 13, and definedby the platform 6, front plate 5 and side walls 2 and 3 is enclosed by alid 14. The lid 14 has a horizontal portion 14a enclosing the top of thecasing and a downwardly depending portion 14b enclosing the rear portionof the casing down to the platform 6. The lid 14- is hingedly attachedto the front plate 5 as at 15, and access may be gained to the chamber13 by raising the lid to its open position as shown in FIG. 3. Anysuitable latch means may be employed to hold the lid in its closedposition. For purposes of an exemplary showing, the downwardly dependinglid portion 14b may be provided with notches 16, which cooperate withwing nuts 17 affixed to the rear edge of the platform 6.

The front wall 5 has a rectangular perforation 13 therein. A shelfmember 19 is located on the exterior surface of the front wall 5 alongthe lower edge of the perforation 13. The shelf 19 may be an integralpart of the wall 5, or may be aflixed thereto in any suitable manner.

It will be understood by one skilled in the art that the casing thus fardescribed may be made of any suitable material. For example, the entirestructure may be made of plastic. It is also possible to fabricate thebottom platform, side members and drawer of Wood, and the lid 14, frontplate 5, shelf 13 and outermost surface 7a of the drawer of metal.

Two vertical posts 20 and 21 are located in the chamber 13, adjacent thefront plate 5 and on either side of the perforation 18. The posts 20 and21 provide bearings for the shaft 22 of a rotary brush 23. It will benoted from FIGS. 1 and 3, that a portion 230: of the rotary brushextends through the perforation 18. One end of the shaft 22 extendsthrough the post 20 and is provided wtih a pulley 24. The pulley 24 sconnected by a belt 25 to a pulley 26 mounted on the shaft 27 of anelectric motor 28. Thus when the motor 28 is turned on, the brush 23 (asseen in FIG. 3) is caused to rotate in a clockwise direction.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, an electric blower 30 is mounted in thefront portion of the chamber 13. The blower 3t may be of the usualcommercial type having an electric motor at 31 and a rotary fan in ahousing 32. As is usual for such blowers, air is taken in through aperforation in the side of the housing 32 opposite the motor 31 and isexpelled through an outlet 33, which is generally an integral part ofthe casing 32. The intake portion of the casing 32 is provided with anextension 34 so that air will be drawn into the housing 32 from theperforation 13 in the front plate 5. As indicated in FIGURES 2 and 3,the extension 34 may be rectangular in configuration, having insidedimensions slightly greater than the dimensions of the rectangularperforation 18 in the front plate 5. The member 34 will extend from theintake portion of the casing 32 to the inside surface of the front plate5. The outlet 33 of the housing 32 extends through a perforation in theplatform 6 so that air is discharged from the housing 32 into the drawer7. Air discharged into the drawer '7 will escape through the foraminousWall 11 to the surrounding atmosphere. This is true, due to the factthat the portion 14b of the lid 14 extends downwardly to the platform 6when the lid is in closed position. The space between the platform 6 andthe bottom 4 is open to the atmosphere even when the lid 14 is closed.The platform 6 may be provided with perforations 35 and 36 so that partof the air escaping through the foraminous wall 11 may enter the chamber13 to cool the motors 28 and 31.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, a switch 37 is provided on 3 the front plate 5by which the motors 28 and 31 may be simultaneously actuated.

The operation of the device of the present invention is as follows: Theswitch 37 is moved to the on position which will cause the brush 23 torotate and the blower 313 to set up a vacuum at the perforation 18. Ahair brush is rested on the shelf 19 in such away that its bristles willbe penetrated by the bristles of the rotary brush 23. The hair brush maybe rotated slightly on the shelf 19 so that all of its bristles will bepenetrated by the rotary brush 23. Hair and foreign material will beremoved from the hair brush by the rotary brush 23 and carried into theextension 34 from which they will be drawn into the blower chamber 32and deposited. therefrom into the drawer 7. The foraminous back wall 11of the drawer will permit the air to escape, but will insure that thehair and foreign material will remain in the drawer. After a number ofbrushes have been cleaned in this manner, the drawer 7 may be removedand emptied of its contents.

It has been found that the best results are obtained when the rotarybrush Z3 is made of finely corrugated synthetic bristles. Brushes may becleaned in the manner .described above with great rapidity and extremethoroughness. Once the brushes have been cleaned, they will be placed ina suitable sterilization cabinet, as is the usual practice.

Frequently static electricity renders the cleaning of hair brushesextremely diflicult. Such static electricity causes the hair and foreignmaterial to stick not only to the hair brushes themselves but also tothe comb or other device used to clean it. It has been found that in theuse of the present device, if all of the conductive elements aregrounded this problem is overcome. For example, if the motor 28, blower30, shaft 22 and bearings 20 and 21 are grounded (as is diagrammaticallyindicated in FIG- URE 2), and the entire casing 1 is made ofnon-conductive materials, static electricity will not present a problem.On the other hand, if the front plate 5 and the shelf 19 are made ofmetal, they may also be grounded as is diagrammatically represented inFIG. 3.

Modifications may be made in the invention without departing from thespirit of it. The invention having been described in certain exemplaryembodiments, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by LettersPatent is:

1. A brush and comb cleaning device comprising a casing, said casinghaving a bottom, sidewalls, and a front wall, a platform within saidcasing parallel to and in spaced relationship with said bottom, saidfront wall extending downwardly to said platform, said platform,sidewalls, and front wall defining a chamber, a lid member hingedlyafiixed to said front wall and forming a cover for said chamber, saidlid member having a downwardly depending portion forming a rear wall forsaid chamber, means for holding said lid member in closed position, saidbottom, sidewalls and platform forming an open-ended portion of saidcasing, a removable drawer slidably mounted within said open-endedportion, said front wall having a perforation, a rotary brush mountedwithin said chamber, a portion of said rotary brush extending throughsaid perforation, an electric motor mounted within said chamber forrotating said brush, an electric vacuum fan within said chamber, saidfan having an intake adjacent said rotary brush, and an outlet incommunication with said drawer through said platform, whereby hair andforeign material is transferred from said rotary brush to said. drawer,said drawer having a foraminous rear wall to allow air from said outletto escape and to retain said hair and foreign material within saiddrawer, said platform having holes therein so that part of said escapingair may enter said chamber to cool said motor and said fan, a switchmounted on said front wall to simultaneously actuate said motor and saidfan, and a shelf affixed to said front wall adjacent said perforationupon which brushes and combs being cleaned may be rested.

2. The structure claimed in claim 1 wherein said rotary brush comprisesa shaft and a plurality of finely corrugated synthetic bristlesextending radially therefrom.

3. The structure claimed in claim 2 wherein said electric motor, saidfan, said rotary brush, said casing and said shelf are grounded.

4. A brush and comb cleaning device comprising a casing having aperforation therein, a rotary brush mounted within said casing, aportion of said rotary brush extending through said perforation, meanswithin said casing for rotating said brush comprising an electric motor,a removable drawer slidably mounted within said casing, vacuum means inassociation with said rotary brush whereby hair and foreign material areremoved therefrom, said vacuum means comprising an electric vacuum fan,said fan having an intake adjacent said rotary brush and an outletcommunicating with said drawer, said drawer having a bottom, side walls,a front wall and a rear wall, said rear wall being foraminous to allowair from said outlet to escape and to retain said hair and foreignmaterial within said drawer, said casing having an opening therein forpassage of said escaping air into the surrounding atmosphere.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,291,550 7/1942Heinichen 15-311 X 2,414,056 1/1947 Nieman. 2,470,601 5/ 1949 Burke51273 2,482,166 9/1949 Gage 15-352 X 2,733,465 2/1956 Holt. 2,879,5343/1959 Swanson et al. 15-179 3,015,121 1/1962 Ulrich 15311 3,080,5913/1963 Townsend 15-38 FOREIGN PATENTS 110,199 4/1900 Germany.

450,299 10/ 1927 Germany.

168,790 9/1920 Great Britain.

DANIEL BLUM, Primary Examiner.

CHARLES A. WILLMUTH, Examiner.

4. A BRUSH AND COMB CLEANING DEVICE COMPRISING A CASING HAVING APERFORATION THEREIN, A ROTARY BRUSH MOUNTED WITHIN SAID CASING, APORTION OF SAID ROTARY BRUSH EXTENDING THROUGH SAID PERFORATION, MEANSWITHIN SAID CASING FOR ROTATING SAID BRUSH COMPRISING AN ELECTRIC MOTOR,A REMOVABLE DRAWER SLIDABLY MOUNTED WITHIN SAID CASING, VACUUM MEANS INASSOCIATION WITH SAID ROTARY BRUSH WHEREBY HAIR AND FOREIGN MATERIAL AREREMOVED THEREFROM, SAID VACUUM MEANS COMPRISING AN ELECTRIC VACUUM FAN,SAID FAN HAVING AN INTAKE ADJACENT SAID ROTARY BRUSH AND AN OUTLETCOMMUNICATING WITH SAID DRAWER, SAID DRAWER HAVING A BOTTOM, SIDE WALLS,A FRONT WALL AND A REAR WALL, SAID REAR WALL BEING FORAMINOUS TO ALLOWAIR FROM SAID OUTLET TO ESCAPE AND TO RETAIN SAID HAIR AND FOREIGNMATERIAL WITHIN SAID DRAWER, SAID CASING HAVING AN OPENING THEREIN FORPASSAGE OF SAID ESCAPING AIR INTO THE SURROUNDING ATMOSPHERE.